To go to work with a positive test

[Pleaseletmesleepin]

I am a teacher in a secondary school and the Head is very strict about attendance and the work piles up very quickly if you miss any time at all . Today I woke up with a sore throat and a cough . Did a test and it is positive. Technically I feel well enough to work and I am scared to phone in sick but it feels wrong to be so close to all of the pupils . Please help me with the right thing to do .

My dd tested positive for covid yesterday, she's really unwell. It's not asymptomatic for all and some of your students could become very sick

@VodselForDinner she’s talking about what to do tomorrow! I think you could have probably worked that one out for yourself…

@VodselForDinner she meant for tomorrow 🙄
She tested positive today, is very unlikely to be negative tomorrow.

Of course you shouldn't go in. I don't know how you could even consider it.

I think you should ask your boss what she expects staff to do if they test positive, then decide what you're going to do. Hopefully you'll be told to stay off.

Actually its a hard one. Your boss may leave it up to you. You may feel obliged to go in. You could inadvertently make someone really ill. Or worse.
Not a nice situation to be in.

Thank you every one . I will email her pic of the test and ask her opinion . I will let you know what she says . I hope she reads her emails on a Sunday .

Surely there’s plenty you could do from home? And take some admin load off colleagues who might have to cover you? You could go in at a quiet time to collect things to be marked etc?

I work in a secondary school and the guidance is very clear, if we test positive or have symptoms we are not to go to work. The school follows government guidelines so your school should be the same. If your Head has not issued clear guidelines and your are expected to attend work after testing positive, I would contact the Governor’s.

I think you might need to be prepared for an ambivalent response. And some pressure to go in. You really need to decide in your gut how you'd feel going in knowing you had covid and will almost certainly pass it on. I couldn't live with that.

God help us if the next variant is more concerning with this kind of confusion on display. Hospitalisation rates of over 55s are soaring as vaccination effects wear off. No, OP, you don't go and spread it to classrooms full of kids who then take it home to their grandparents...

I imagine you’re referring to this guidance that you should contact your employer if you can’t wfh. The document says children and young people should not attend for 5 days etc. It would be madness for you as a teacher to have rules, which are more lax than that of the students. I hope the head agrees.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-people-with-covid-19-and-their-contacts/covid-19-people-with-covid-19-and-their-contacts

How can your school have no guidance? We are 2 years into the pandemic you can’t be the first teacher/ staff member to have tested positive; staff covid absences are an almost daily occurrence in my school.

You need to speak to the head and find out what the school guidelines are before you go back to work. Every school I know is still insisting staff isolate for the full 5 days and then take LFT tests to determine whether they can return before isolating the full 10 days. At my school teachers who are isolating but feel well are able to work from home so it doesn’t count as an absence. Honestly I really cannot believe you are a teacher and don’t know your own school’s guidance by now!

I wouldn't go in. I have a young family member who caught it off their teacher (teacher must have been asymptomatic at the time as called in sick with a positive test, hence parents being advised to test children). They are quite unwell, can't sleep well for headache and throat pain and currently spending most of their day on the sofa, miserable.

As a parent I be furious it one of dds teachers went into school knowing they were positive, can't believe anyone would even consider it.

Definitely don't go in and risk infecting pupils and colleagues, who may pass the infection on to older and more vulnerable people at home. You can always exaggerate your symptoms if it makes the conversation easier.

I really don’t think you should go in but with it being guidance rather than law I think it’s your head’s call. I would be flabbergasted if she expected you in.

Rather than ask her opinion, if SLT/Head hasn't issued guidance then possibly point to current UK guidance for non-healthcare setting and say you propose the WfH unless she instructs you differently?

I think faced with job loss or going to work with covid most people will go to work with covid and YES some people have been told to c9me in unless they are actually ILL

That way the school owns the consequences of her instructions if they differ from isolation guidance rather than her being able to say it was just her opinion and you chose to come in and you are responsible for any infections. Hope you feel better soon.

If you go in you're likely to pass it on to colleagues and pupils and your head will have lots of people off. Some of them will be really poorly with it . Of course you shouldn't go in. I think people forget there is guidance that still needs following - eg precovid if there were things like slapped check going round vulnerable staff were often sent home (I used to work in a school and remember this) and d and v etc you can't go in for 48 hours, your head won't want you in contagious with a highly infectious virus regardless of how you feel
Get well soon

Please don't go in. If you think the head will say to do do then preempt it by saying you feel very unwell.

My secondary school has been clear clear, kids and staff with covid stay home for 5 days then 2 negotiate LFT.

Your school seems terribly managed!

Please stay home. I tested positive 4 weeks ago, as did my DH both having caught it from my 17 yo, who more than likely caught it from school (during mocks season so not really going anywhere else at the time).

DH and i were in bed for a week. Both still coughing. I am totally exhausted after doing anything. Still breathless. Woke up with pains everywhere again. We were both boosted.

I am amazed that your school has no policy. What are the rules for the students?

No one is going to want you there.
Email, ask in writing and there’s no way she’s going to put back in writing “yes come in with covid enough to infect others”. If she does then you’re covered and speak to your union and then maybe look for another job where you aren’t worried about the backlash.